Nasim Mousavi1, Marzieh Norozpour2, Zahra Taherifar3, Morteza Naserbakht4, Amir Shabani4. 1. Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. 2. Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. ma.norozpour@uswr.ac.ir. 3. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. 4. Faculty of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health, Tehran Psychiatry Institute, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder is a common psychiatric disorder with a massive psychological and social burden. Research indicates that treatment adherence is not good in these patients. The families' knowledge about the disorder is fundamental for managing their patients' disorder. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the knowledge of the family members of a sample of Iranian patients with bipolar I disorder (BD-I) and to explore the potential reasons for treatment non-adherence. METHODS: This study was conducted by qualitative content analysis. In-depth interviews were held and open-coding inductive analysis was performed. A thematic content analysis was used for the qualitative data analysis. RESULTS: The viewpoints of the family members of the patients were categorized in five themes, including knowledge about the disorder, information about the medications, information about the treatment and the respective role of the family, reasons for pharmacological treatment non-adherence, and strategies applied by families to enhance treatment adherence in the patients. The research findings showed that the family members did not have enough information about the nature of BD-I, which they attributed to their lack of training on the disorder. The families did not know what caused the recurrence of the disorder and did not have sufficient knowledge about its prescribed medications and treatments. Also, most families did not know about the etiology of the disorder. CONCLUSION: The lack of knowledge among the family members of patients with BD-I can have a significant impact on relapse and treatment non-adherence. These issues need to be further emphasized in the training of patients' families. The present findings can be used to re-design the guidelines and protocols in a way to improve treatment adherence and avoid the relapse of BD-I symptoms.
BACKGROUND:Bipolar disorder is a common psychiatric disorder with a massive psychological and social burden. Research indicates that treatment adherence is not good in these patients. The families' knowledge about the disorder is fundamental for managing their patients' disorder. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the knowledge of the family members of a sample of Iranian patients with bipolar I disorder (BD-I) and to explore the potential reasons for treatment non-adherence. METHODS: This study was conducted by qualitative content analysis. In-depth interviews were held and open-coding inductive analysis was performed. A thematic content analysis was used for the qualitative data analysis. RESULTS: The viewpoints of the family members of the patients were categorized in five themes, including knowledge about the disorder, information about the medications, information about the treatment and the respective role of the family, reasons for pharmacological treatment non-adherence, and strategies applied by families to enhance treatment adherence in the patients. The research findings showed that the family members did not have enough information about the nature of BD-I, which they attributed to their lack of training on the disorder. The families did not know what caused the recurrence of the disorder and did not have sufficient knowledge about its prescribed medications and treatments. Also, most families did not know about the etiology of the disorder. CONCLUSION: The lack of knowledge among the family members of patients with BD-I can have a significant impact on relapse and treatment non-adherence. These issues need to be further emphasized in the training of patients' families. The present findings can be used to re-design the guidelines and protocols in a way to improve treatment adherence and avoid the relapse of BD-I symptoms.
Entities:
Keywords:
Bipolar I disorder; Family psychological education; Qualitative study; Treatment non-adherence
Authors: M Crowe; M Inder; D Carlyle; L Wilson; L Whitehead; A Panckhurst; A O'Brien; P Joyce Journal: J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs Date: 2011-09-02 Impact factor: 2.952
Authors: Lewis L Judd; Hagop S Akiskal; Pamela J Schettler; Jean Endicott; Jack Maser; David A Solomon; Andrew C Leon; John A Rice; Martin B Keller Journal: Arch Gen Psychiatry Date: 2002-06
Authors: Judith G Proudfoot; Gordon B Parker; Megan Benoit; Vijaya Manicavasagar; Meg Smith; Aimee Gayed Journal: Health Expect Date: 2009-06 Impact factor: 3.377
Authors: Lewis L Judd; Pamela J Schettler; Hagop S Akiskal; Jack Maser; William Coryell; David Solomon; Jean Endicott; Martin Keller Journal: Int J Neuropsychopharmacol Date: 2003-06 Impact factor: 5.176
Authors: Dawn I Velligan; Peter J Weiden; Martha Sajatovic; Jan Scott; Daniel Carpenter; Ruth Ross; John P Docherty Journal: J Clin Psychiatry Date: 2009 Impact factor: 4.384